In a new interview posted by Bloomberg’s Jason Schreier today, the noted industry pundit had a chance to talk with Team Cherry ahead of the announcement of Hollow Knight: Silksong’s release date. As many have been wondering for the better part of a decade, why did Silksong take seven years to make, and was Team Cherry working itself to the bone to get it done? In a rare positive twist on typical industry dealings, it turns out that this belated followup to the 2017 classic is a result of the studio taking its time, having fun, and not wanting to rush things out the door.
As the article starts, the process of creating Silksong is noted as being a “joyful process.” Team Cherry co-founders Ari Gibson and William Pellen answered questions regarding Silksong’s development cycle and had nothing but good things to say. “We’ve been having fun,” Gibson stated. “This whole thing is just a vehicle for our creativity anyway. It’s nice to make fun things.” There was never a period where they believed the game was in trouble, but rather they worked to ensure fans expectations would be met.
“It was never stuck or anything. It was always progressing,” Gibson explains. “It’s just the case that we’re a small team, and games take a lot of time. There wasn’t any big controversial moment behind it.” This is after years of speculation from when Silksong was originally announced in 2018. Initially, the team intended it to be an expansion to the first Hollow Knight, but by 2019, it grew well beyond that scope. Team Cherry then shifted things into a full-on sequel but has been mostly silent for the entirety of the 2020s.
Still, Silksong grew and Team Cherry realized it was becoming a much bigger beast than the first game. “Even at that point we were recognizing that it was going to become another giant thing to rival the scale of Hollow Knight or probably exceed it,” Gibson noted. “And then because of how we work, obviously the world ended up being just as big or bigger. And the quest system existed. And the multiple towns existed. Suddenly you end up six, seven years later.”
To make a long story short, Gibson realized he couldn’t keep sketching out ideas forever, so he and the team settled on a specific scope that would then start to get finalized over the last few years. Due to the financial success of the first Hollow Knight, which reportedly sold around 15 million copies, there was no pressure for Team Cherry to rush and that prevented the team from crunching at the finish line. Silksong is a result of pure passion rather than obligation and deadlines.
You can read more in the Bloomberg article, which is full of interesting tidbits about Gibson and Pellen’s lives and their hopes for Silksong.
More Silksong
Hollow Knight: Silksong releases on September 4th, 2025, for all platforms
Photos of Hollow Knight: Silksong’s Gamescom booth are surfacing online
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Written by Peter Glagowski
Peter has been a freelance gaming and film critic for over seven years. His passion for Nintendo is only matched by the size of his collection.
